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Solo Chicken

Lisa Anne Ross
Artistic Director

address
259 Victoria Street Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 1W3

Phone 506.206.1600 Email lisa@lisaross.net

Solo Chicken Productions is a New Brunswick based, incorporated not-for-profit theatre company that aims to foster the creation & development of new works of Canadian Physical Theatre through production, community collaboration and educational programming. Solo Chicken Productions is committed to creating performances that are challenging & delightful.

History of Organization:
Solo Chicken Productions was formed by theatre artist Lisa Anne Ross in March of 2004, and was originally based in Toronto, Ontario. Lisa formed this company to provide a vehicle for her original theatre productions and as a platform for her growing interest in community collaboration and educational programming that emphasized physical theatre. In 2009, Lisa relocated from Toronto to Fredericton where the company is now permanently based. The company received not-for-profit incorporation status in February of 2010.

Solo Chicken Productions performance history began with the original puppet musical, Comfort & Cozy, which was written and directed by Lisa Anne Ross. This piece debuted at the 2005 Hysteria Festival in Toronto, Ontario and after receiving development funding from the Toronto Arts Council was performed at HUB 14 in the winter of 2006. In the winter of 2008 Solo Chicken Productions began collaborating with Toronto based dance artist, Sylvie Bouchard and her company BoucharDanse. This collaboration yielded the family friendly, puppet and movement piece, Feather & Bill. This piece was originally performed at an 8:08 Series evening in May 2008, and after receiving development funding from the Ontario Arts Council was curated to perform at the outdoor theatre festival, The Cooking Fire Festival in June 2009.

In regards to Solo Chicken Productions work in the field of community collaboration, the company has heralded the development and execution of an annual six-week theatre program in Canada’s Arctic region. Since 2004, Lisa has traveled yearly to Inukjuak, Nunavik where she collaborates with the youth of the community of Inukjuak, teaching mask and puppetry skills and facilitating the creation of an original performance. This community collaboration, which is now known as the Nunavik Theatre Arts Program, has yielded the creation of numerous original works, all written and performed in Inuktitut and has received funding from the Ungaluk Program, Avataq Cultural Institute and Canada Council. In the spring of 2010 this program expanded into the Nunavik community of Kangirsuk and offered, in addition to the two arts programs, a Leadership Training Program for its growing number of staff.
Solo Chicken Productions recently finished the development and execution of a theatre-based program for ‘youth-at-risk’ in the Toronto high school, Eastdale Collegiate. The two-year program, which was partially funded by Theatre Ontario, offered the student body an opportunity to work with professional artists and to express themselves through performance.

As part of her interest in and commitment to arts based educational programming, Lisa recently completed her Master’s in Environmental Studies at York University, where her course of study was focused on developing new facilitation skills and developing her pedagogical approach to collaboration and education. Her studies were funded in part by professional development funds from Canada Council for the Arts.